SBInet: "Can we Get a Refund?"

Two House subcommittees held a hearing today on the ongoing problems with the multi-billion dollar “virtual border fence” being built by Boeing Corp. along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Earlier this week, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano froze funding out of concerns that the program, called SBInet, was plagued with problems. More than $1b has already been spent but the system has only been installed along 28 miles of the 2,000-mile border.

At the current rate of 28 miles every 4.5 years, it would take 320 years – or until the year 2330 – to deploy SBInet technology across the Southwest border.

The GAO’s latest findings reveal that 1) he number of problems in the program are outpacing those being fixed and 2) about 70 percent of SBInet testing procedures apparently were changed at the last minute to “pass the test” rather than qualify the system.